Summer of 2013: You are in charge of Spurs

Spurs main player Bale is being/has been sold to Real Madrid and suddenly you have a 100 million+ transfer budget but you have lost the player who was the team's very best by far. What do you do now? Who do you buy? Who do you sell? Who do you build the team around?

Be realistic. Keep in mind the actual transfers that happened in the summer and the pulling power of Spurs. And that AVB is coach.

I wonder who AVB would of signed to be honest. He stated he had no real say in the transfers in the summer.

I think they did well to sign Paulinho and Eriksen.

Soldado, Chadli, Capoue have been meh, I suppose Chiriches has been all right for them. In hindsight I'd buy different players for them. I think Hernandez (Chicarito, ManU) would be a brilliant player for them. Could also have tested Atletico's resilience by splashing out on Koke. Micah Richards for CB?

Lamela, I don't get why AVB doesn't play him after the fee they paid for him and seeing how they're lacking ideas in attack.

The players they signed are not a problem exactly,even if guys like Soldado I previously said and felt like were not worth the numbers paid. I think the sheer number of players is a bigger problem, so many different parts...who is the established core of the Spurs team prior to all these signings?

Dawson, Walker and Vertoghen?

I dont really have a problem with the individuals themselves. The only one I dont like is Soldado, and most of that is his price.

Villa would of been better, Tevez, Gomez ....Negredo would of been better but I cant claim to have known that before hand.

Exactly. AVB has brought about a wholesale of changes in terms of players, tactics etc. in one go at both Chelsea and Spurs (this season).

If I were him, I would've kept aside some of that Bale money for a rainy day. Hopefully BR and the transfer committee doesn't do that themselves when we sell Suarez as well. Get players that are really required and can legitimately improve the team and not just spend money for the sake of it. Better options might be available in the future. We persisted with that last season and got Coutinho and Sturridge instead of Dempsey and Sigurdsson fortunately. Not that they are bad players, but we got better ones.

The team has no core. AVB himself is clueless about the starting XI. Loaned out to their only proper left-back due to which Vertonghen has to play there. I guess around 50% of their current squad is only at the club since last year. That is ridiculous.

A LB to begin with. Someone like Coentrao maybe.

In terms of midfield, it would be Sandro, Dembele and Eriksen. There's no need for Paulinho.

Lamela should start ahead of Townsend regardless of form.

Nothing wrong with signing Soldado, since he was the best striker available at the time.

In terms of LW, someone better than Chadli. Should have tried harder to get Willian.

in retrospect instead of buying lots of young promising players, he should have bought a couple big name players.

doubt it was possible but maybe making a big push for a cavani-esque signing would have better suited them.

Almost everyone were praising the signings when they happened. Except Soldado.

i still think they were good signings tbh, but spurs were a functioning team with an 'x-factor' in bale, maybe they should have just relied on another x-factor

What I'd do:
Realise I am in charge of spurs with Villy B at the helm, Sell spurs. Move to Madrid with Bale.

The Franchise wrote:The players they signed are not a problem exactly,even if guys like Soldado I previously said and felt like were not worth the numbers paid. I think the sheer number of players is a bigger problem, so many different parts...who is the established core of the Spurs team prior to all these signings?

Dawson, Walker and Vertoghen?

I dont really have a problem with the individuals themselves. The only one I dont like is Soldado, and most of that is his price.

Villa would of been better, Tevez, Gomez ....Negredo would of been better but I cant claim to have known that before hand.

The established core was Bale...who left. Who AVB was constantly assured was staying until near the end of the window.

Villa was wanted, Spurs couldn't pull him. Tevez...Spurs vs Juve, Gomez if you ask arq had some sort of tie in with Fiorentina? I'm not sure, I wanted him at Spurs personally. Negredo I didn't rate that much like you did, wrong on that one. Soldado was the best option available at a steep price, but Spurs needed some striker desperately. Looking at the strikers, it was always going to be bad for Spurs.

In terms of LW, someone better than Chadli. Should have tried harder to get Willian.

He had a medical at Spurs...lol.

Personally I agree with those that said that the best option would have just been to reduce the number of players coming in. Striker, LB are priorities, Lamela to replace Bale, and Chiriches. A CM to help rotate with Dembele and Sandro (who was just coming from a long term injury) and that would have done it. Perhaps a depth signing like Chadli would be the last.

Even that there is 6 signings, though Chadli could be cut. The team did need some overhauls, and still does (LB ffs...Spurs failing to get Coentrao has really hurt the team).

I guess the logical first step is to look at our weaknesses going into the Summer before the purchases were made:
1. First and foremost we needed strikers
2. Coverage for Sandro at DM
3. Replacement for Gallas at CB
4. Coverage for Dembele at DLP on the left
5. Coverage/replacement at RW for Lennon
6. Coverage/replacement at LB for BAE
7. Coverage at RB for Walker

So how were these issues addressed if at all with our signings?
1. We picked up Soldado who I was never keen on and didn't fit into the style of the existing team, or the one being built, but still arguably an upgrade to Defoe and Ade.
2. We picked up both Paulinho and Capoue who are great coverage at DM. While I think of Paulinho as more of a deep lying playmaker on the right, he can do the job, but Capoue was a perfect like for like signing for Sandro.
3. We picked up Chiriches who was arguably our best signing over the Summer and a more than capable replacement for Gallas.
4. No deep lying playmaker on the left was picked up.
5. We picked up Lamela and Chadli. I didn't know much about Chadli, but he looked a good prospective pick up and can cover both wings. Lamela speaks for itself, a definite upgrade over Lennon on the RW. We got Townsend back from loan who looked a pretty good backup.
6. No LB was picked up, but we got Rose back from loan as coverage for BAE.
7. No RB was picked up.

There was really only one player that was a luxury buy which was Eriksen, and for the price he was offered at there was really no way we could turn down the chance to purchase a talent like that even if we already had Holtby.

What screwed us over was that we didn't address certain needs, we didn't factor in the players we lost, and we let go of players willingly which would've been an asset to the squad.

The obvious loss is Bale. Of all the transfers we didn't sign one player who was truly a game winner.

Then we sold Dempsey, Huddlestone, and Caulker. Dempsey, while he didn't light the world on fire, provided the team with a toughness which was sorely lacking. As well, it never hurt that he was actually quite good as a CAM/SS once he was able to settle into the position especially in big games. Huddlestone, while not my favorite player, was more than capable coverage at CM/DM and was the sex on set plays. Caulker is the one that baffles me, how can you hold onto Dawson a past it CB who can't play the high line, and instead let a young talented CB like Caulker go for basically nothing.

Then the insult to end all insults, we finally have coverage at LB, and we re-create the problem by letting BAE go to QPR for nothing.

So what are our current needs:
1. Still need a LB
2. Still need a Striker
3. We need a replacement at CB for Dawson
4. Still need a DLP on the left as coverage for Dembele
5. We need coverage at RB for Walker

So it's really a wash, there really aren't any players I wouldn't of signed, but there are players I wouldn't of let go of and I would have signed at least two more. As well, I'm not really willing to do the thought experiment of who we could've purchased because there are just to many variables involved.

-Well in approaching summer 2013 , I would have scribed what I thought was the team's weaknesses last season and I would have discussed & addressed them with AVB and asked him what he thought. ( I would have done this in order to be on the same wavelength as each other)

- Put him completely in charge of his project. This means that I would have asked him what players he wanted ( systemw-wise) and purchase them if I thought the transfers were logical and achievable. But I would have limited the amount of players he signed that would automatically become key players and first teamers ( to about 3 or 4) because I wouldn't want to completely disrupt and alter the first 11.I would have kept  Caulker, BAE and Huddlestone. I wouldn't have mind purchasing many players who would improve the quality on the bench or would be more than able to fill-in for the injured or underperforming.

- Make sure that all transfers were done early , so new players could be involved in more pre-season training and gel with seasoned players .I would also instruct AVB to make pre-season physically difficult and I would also set up lots of friendlies, if the players are not properly gelled  by the beginning of the season, I want them to be 100 % match fit at least by the beginning. Also in these friendlies, I would have liked to seen proposed systems and lineups that would be used in the league.

I love the Paulinho signing, I think he is a total stud and will be one of the better midfielders in the EPL.

I like Sakho a lot to help the defense and think he is a player Spurs could sign.

I would have loved to see them buy Damiao as it's always been my belief he would fit so well in Europe.

Also I think every team can use some Spanish flair in midfield so maybe Iker Munian and if not him than Koke or Ander Herrara.

I also still can't understand why an EPL team with money doesn't go after Antoine Greizmann. I thought arsenal would snap him up by now being that he's young and French but not yet.

So my ideal purchase list would have been

Damiao
Paulinho
Griezmann or Munian (I know it would be hard to get both)
Koke first and if not than Ander Herrara
Sakho

I think most of these players Spurs would have been able to buy and would have been better purchases.

I think another big question is did Levy miss out on Higuain? Would he have gone there I can't really remember. BEcause if he would have then he would be at the top of the list.

@CB

Understandably, those players made better moves or in Gomez case, maybe a pre arranged move. But I just named 3 players quickly, I still think there are better options than 30m for Soldado. But I did already say this in that thread so no use going over old ground.

All of these ideas are good gents, but nowhere near as devious as you could be. I mean, you have 120 mil to spend and 2 of the best strikers in the league who are unsettled and playing for your rivals in the next season's title race. Suarez. Rooney. Pay over the odds. Forget about building your dream FM team, do some damage to some other clubs and let them worry about replacing their most important players. Sell off some players in the team that are surplus to requirements and then use that money to fix the cracks in midfield and defence instead of trying to gold-plate those areas.

As if those players would entertain the idea of going to Spurs

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:As if those players would entertain the idea of going to Spurs

They would have at that time. Spurs were moving forward, it was a new project and they both wanted out of their own clubs. Money talks and Suarez and Rooney are not the type to say to to a big pile of dirty cash.

Forza wrote:All of these ideas are good gents, but nowhere near as devious as you could be. I mean, you have 120 mil to spend and 2 of the best strikers in the league who are unsettled and playing for your rivals in the next season's title race. Suarez. Rooney. Pay over the odds. Forget about building your dream FM team, do some damage to some other clubs and let them worry about replacing their most important players. Sell off some players in the team that are surplus to requirements and then use that money to fix the cracks in midfield and defence instead of trying to gold-plate those areas.

I really doubt Suarez or Rooney would want to move to Spurs. They are not big enough to attract such players nor are they powered by oil money, which guarantees future success. I would sell of some players like Adebayor. And like others said, get another top CF instead of Soldado for 30 million. Maybe Fred, Kiessling, Gomez or Diego Costa. They would all have been cheaper than Soldado. For LB, either one of Coentrao or Baines. Coentrao would be easier to get than Baines. Chiriches, Capoue and Paulinho signings were spot on. Spurs could do with another CB, Dawson is terrible now. Benatia would have been a great pick. Lamela, Chadli, Eriksen etc are all good players, let's see if they can shine under Tim Sherwood.

To say Rooney and Suarez are unrealistic targets is really a defeatist, small-club mentality. Now, I know what you're thinking - Spurs are a defeatist, small club. However, the idea is that Spurs would target these players precisely for the reason that these players were above the standing of the club at the time.

Back then, Liverpool had some prestige, but certainly not more of a chance of getting CL football than Spurs going on the results of the previous season. Suarez was on the market and Rooney's feud with Moyes was well-publicised. Anything could've happened.

If you grease the hinges with lots of money, the door opens - as Man City and numerous other clubs have shown. That transfer season was Spurs' chance to become one of the big boys, but they missed their moment by opting for a shotgun/buffet approach - a little bit of everything, but nothing that's exactly what you want.

they could have easily lured rodgers with the entire 80 m and bought suarez.   
They would be competing for title at this stage if that happened.

Forza wrote:.

Back then, Liverpool had some prestige, but certainly not more of a chance of getting CL football than Spurs going on the results of the previous season. Suarez was on the market and Rooney's feud with Moyes was well-publicised. Anything could've happened.

Arsenal had no chance with Suarez, what makes you think Spurs did? C'mon.

They clearly need a passing midfielder, that is their biggest problem, their midfield is lacking in ideas and all the players (except Eriksen) are too similar. Banega.

Tbh BC that's right, Spurs have missed Modric since he left.

Also there is no chance in hell Spurs get either of Suarez or Rooney. No chance.

I still maintain people are quick to shoot down Spurs approach in this window because they aren't taking the EPL by storm. Man City didn't when they started spending like crazy, it took a while. So when you take that into account and then look at all the players Spurs bought...Soldado aside, most if not all were 25 or under. Not only is it a young squad too, it's a deep one. With this side, given most new players stay and the great established players like Vertonghen, Lloris, Dembele and Sandro stay, Spurs could see this transfer window pay big dividends yet.

Which is partially why chopping and changing managers at this point in the season could be very counterproductive, but that is another story altogether.